"Yesterday Taniyama Mai was forcibly taken from her home," a redheaded police detective said directly to the camera. "This is a picture of Taniyama Mai." She held up a picture of a teenaged girl in a high school uniform with short brown hair and a bright smile. "We beg that if anyone has seen this girl or if anyone has any other information about the kidnapping, to call the number on the bottom of your screen."

"Is it true she was kidnapped by her boss?" a reporter shouted.

"We are looking into the possibility that Shibuya Kazuya might be involved in the incident."


"Taniyama Mai is our best friend and we want anyone who knows anything to come forward," a sobbing girl said with her friends arm around her shoulders. "Mai, if you see this, please come home. We miss you!"

Keiko broke down into Michiru's arms as the screen flicked back to the news reporter.

"And that was a personal request from Taniyama Mai's close personal friends. Though it has been almost two weeks since she has gone missing, the police are still hopeful. If you have seen anything, please call the hotline!" The screen flashed with the familiar picture of Taniyama Mai and the hotline number.


Two teenaged girls walked from lamppost to lamppost with tape and posters. Every poster was the same: Taniyama Mai's face and the hotline number.

"It's been almost a year Keiko…" Michiru said quietly. "Do you think she'll ever come back?"

Keiko stopped in the act of taping the poster up and looked around at her friend.

"Of course she'll come back," she replied. "It's Mai, she's probably just lost."

The two friends laughed reminiscently.

"I wonder where she is," Keiko said as she resumed taping the poster.

"I hope she's not being hurt, or in a dungeon or something creepy."

"Nah, Mai watched far too many horror films. She'd know how to get out of that sort of situation."

And they laughed again. They both knew they would never give up hoping.


"Shuuya!" Michiru protested from the bedroom doorway. "You promised you'd help!"

The young man who was sprawled in bed groaned. Michiru scowled.

"I'm moving!" The young man wriggled towards the edge of bed and then promptly fell off onto the floor, still wrapped in the duvet. "See! I'm out of bed!"

Michiru laughed and poked her fiancé with her foot.

"Get up, I'll make breakfast."

Half an hour later and the young couple were walking down the street clutching posters and tape.

"And then the old hag dropped all the books and huffed off!" Michiru concluded as she handed another poster to her fiancé to tape up. "I had to re-shelve them all after I spent all that time trying to find the damn books for her in the first place!"

"Typical," Shuuya muttered. He stared at the photo on the poster for a moment. "You know, we should probably update the photo."

"What do you mean?"

"Well it's been four years since she went missing, she'd probably look older now," he explained. "Perhaps we should look for some aging software."

"She won't look that much older!"

"You look older than you did four years ago. Your face has changed," Shuuya observed.

"What do you mean my face has changed? Do I look that old?" Michiru clutched at her frowning face. Shuuya chuckled.

"Of course you have changed! But only more beautiful for it."

"Nice save." Michiru scowled.

"And it's the only face I want to see for the rest of my life," Shuuya continued.

"Really?"

"That's why I'm marrying you, isn't it?"

Michiru grinned and handed him another poster.

"Come on," she urged. "We haven't got all day!"


On the other side of the world, Taniyama Mai lay her head down on a pillow and closed her eyes.


Author's note: Well, after I finished A Hint of a Threat, I was like "I'm not writing a sequel" but then a few of you reviewed saying "write a sequel" and then the ideas started coming...

So its happening.

And it's going to be heartbreaking. And when The Bad Thing happens, I want you all to know, that its AmyNChan's fault.

Please review :)